An application for a consent variation allowing two lots of the former Hawthorn Estate development in Queenstown to go ahead without the water features required by the original consent has been lodged by Arcadian Triangle Ltd.
The 8.63ha application - for which a non-notified hearing process has been sought - is the latest development in a saga which began in 2000 with the original Wakatipu Basin 32 residential lot, 34ha Hawthorn Estate proposal.
After six years of Queenstown Lakes District Council, Environment court and High Court fixtures, the consent was granted with conditions.
A final Environment Court declaration, sought by the QLDC, this year found the ponds and mounds of the original consent must be constructed.
With the exception of the one lot owned by Arcadian Triangle, the rest of the land was subdivided and on-sold when Arcadian Triangle and co-developer Fred van Brandenburg fell out.
Arcadian Triangle director Warwick Goldsmith, representing himself and Downies Trustee Ltd sought non-notification status for the application in a resource consent hearing in Queenstown on Tuesday. Commissioners Denis Nugent and Lyal Cocks closed the hearing later that afternoon.
Mr Goldsmith told the commissioners that the variation aimed to replace the pond areas with landscaped grounds. The only point that should need be considered was the ecological impact of not including the ponds, he said.
"It is my submission that this, in relation to notification, is a relatively simple one and and it is to do with the ecological outcomes of the proposed variation," said Mr Goldsmith, adding that he found it "extraordinary"that a simple application should accrue a 400-page agenda.
The Environment Court ruling issued on March 25, found that the ponds and mounds were an integral part of the proposal, and their potential ecological impact contributed to the development gaining consent.
"... the proposal was presented as an integrated and comprehensive development where the conservation gains to be made by the introduction of water-birds through the use of ponds narrowly outweighed the extent of development in a rural environment."
Instead of full public notification, the non-notification status would mean that no other parties could submit on the consent application.
The commissioners are expected to make a decision on whether the application will be publicly notified within 15 working days.
